The Next Dimension

Chapter 5

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"Hey, isn't this our stop?" He gestured at her window, and sure enough, they were approaching a great big pillared building with the words 'Manner House' erected in stone on a fancy granite block directly outside of it. The cab slowed to a grinding halt and she hurriedly paid - seeming to have remembered that they had been rushing earlier - then popped open the door and practically dragged him out.

Then the next thing he knew they were through the fancy front doors, across the marble floor and standing in front of an elevator, waiting for it to open. Henrietta was tapping her foot.

Sagarus found it annoying. He pulled back the front of his robe just enough to be able to stick his hands into his pants pockets, attempting to ignore the tapping which was already beginning to fray his nerves. He didn't like impatient people, it never got anyone anywhere at all. If there was one thing he'd learned in all the one 148 years he'd lived, it was patience makes perfect. That wasn't exactly the phrase, but it applied regardless. He was going to say something about it when the sleek metal doors opened, four Oitaix in business formal walked out (not without ogling him first, of course), and they both went in.

Henrietta pressed the button for the fourth floor, then slumped against the wall the moment the doors closed. She hung her head down, holding a hand over her eyes as if regretting something terrible. "Oh, this is a mistake, I can feel it." She muttered, piquing his interest.

"What's a mistake now? Bringing me here?" He hazarded the guess, not sure what she was thinking.

"Yes." She offered no explanation, so he was left to give just a lousy 'oh' in reply. What on earth was going on?

"I need to ask you something important." She looked up sharply, with a determined expression. "Is it possible to track someone with your magic?"

Well, that was surprising. "Um, sort of, I'm not exactly skilled in that area, though. Who are you trying to find?"

"You'll find out in a minute. It's why I brought you here."

"You said people wanted to talk to me." He accused lightly.

"I did, and they do, but we need your help too. Besides, if you are going to be stuck here like you've told my father, then you might as well be useful."

Sagarus had met her and her father twice but they already sounded alike. Who knew?

"I don't plan on being here that long, but whatever! I don't seem to have much choice in this situation already." He let his exasperation show. He'd been in this dimension for four days and already people wanted his magical services. He shouldn't have told anyone about his abilities; what a boneheaded move.

She sighed, and stood up straight as the elevator stopped to let another passenger get on board. Sagarus hardly noticed the man, he was already far away, wrapped up in his thoughts and mulling over the possibilities of what all they might want from him.

It was awkwardly quiet. Finally, after an agonizing minute, the doors opened to the fourth floor and his wishes of taking the stairs, despite the fact he was already fatigued by this whole trip, went out the window. The three passengers in the lift evacuated quickly, and Sagarus was left wondering how on earth they had managed to make this floor somehow even more prestigious and formal looking than the building itself. He looked on in awe as they walked down a long hallway past many offices. The floor was marble, all the wood paneling on the walls was some sort of dark expensive wood, and the furniture had silken covers even in the small recreation room they passed.

There were people of all three species everywhere he'd seen so far in all the offices. Oitaix, Kinnoh (the ones with horns like Lady Ethans) and the shorter blue people like the angry woman - who he later found out was technically a queen. It was no wonder she acted all high and mighty and threatened him. He didn't know who she was at the time, obviously, but he probably would have acted more civil had he known. Or maybe he wouldn't have, he still surprised himself sometimes.